Despite the sound of the waterfall falling nearby, Shion’s ears could capture perfectly the sound of Dohko pouring Black Tea.
“I must admit I was quite worried when you didn’t answer any of my letters,” not like he had sent many, just a few over the course of three years; he was also quite worried when he arrived just to find Dohko as good as dead: such a faint heartbeat were it not for the constant thrum of his cosmo, he would have started the burying rituals.
Dohko scratched his cheek sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry about that.” He grabbed his own tea and sipped it, content to be spending time with his best friend after a couple of years (that just felt like days to him). “It’s taking me sometime to adapt to this new... mesophetamenos thing.” He poked his chest, as if expecting it to do something, “most of the time I’m unable to do anything, so I resort to sleeping,” he shrugged and drank more tea.
Shion grabbed one of the dumplings he heped Dohko make, it was an interesting concept, to watch as his friend remained the same while he was already feeling the weight of time. Such a burden on such a young person.
“And what brought you, anyway?” To this Shion raised his eyebrows (or what could be considered as his eyebrows), and Dohko continued his explanation. “I mean, you must be really busy back in Sanctuary. I don’t think you visited just because you felt like it.”
To some extent, his friend was right. His new (and non-wanted) job as the Pope was rather demanding, and even so much as going to Rodorio for groceries had him falling behind on work. But the tug on his soul was too demanding, the toll on his heart too heavy; too many ghosts back in Sanctuary to haunt him, to remind him he hadn’t been enought to protect his friends. Back in Sanctuary only the empty houses remained to mock him; here in China with his dear friend, there was only nature and a warm hand to hold his pieces together.
“It so happened that I managed to find a couple of days for leisure,” he tried a small smile, he was lucky to have a cup in front of him to hide it in case it wasn’t convincing enough. “And how has life been treating you, my friend?” He had waited long to talk to him, he at least deserved a summary.
“Hmm, a couple of days (months?) ago I dreamed of Tenma,” upon Shion’s questioning gaze, he continued. “It was weird, it started with one friend coming to visit, and he introduced me to his daughter. She had grown quite a lot since the last time I saw her (she was a baby, can you believe?),” he semed to want to do something, but hesitated and ultimately, decided to stay still and continue his narrative. “Then in came these ninja guys tryin’ to attack us (it was ridiculous, they seemed like actual Japanese ninjas), and I fought against him despite my, you know, heart thing.” He stared of into the distance, and he almost could see it happening again. “I won, we captured him, and the leader... underneath his mask, he had Tenma’s face.”
He stopped for a moment, as if waiting for Shion’s humming to continue. “We had to go to the place where I trained, and defeat my old sparring partner because he had been consumed by greed and envy,” thinking back on it, he still felt sad, “so along with this guy who looked a lot like Tenma and acted a lot like Tenma (but didn’t fail to remind me every single time he wasn’t Tenma), we entered and tried to save my friend. (We also greeted my Master, yeah, the dragon.) And at the end... everything was so fuzzy, Tenma-not-Tenma said some things and he... he vanished.
“Then I woke up again to my friend visiting me, introducing me to his daughter because the last time I had seen her she was a baby,” he ended his tale with a sip of his own tea, amidst the silence, Shion mulled over his incredulity. An amazing happenstance it was, indeed.
The rest of the evening was spent over iddle talking, small jokes, remembrance, beating around the bush for the sake of their mental stabilities.
For various reasons, Shion wasn’t able to visit again. Many of those you can guess.
And when Shion met Dohko’s new apprentice, feigning betrayal to Athena even if he felt his heart torn (at seeing his friend again, but only seeing the disgust on his face for his treason), he felt slightly amused.
He managed to keep his face blank, his comments sharp, and his emotions at bay. He knew both Mu and Dohko had been able to see his bleeding heart.
“Dragon Shiryu, huh?” he asked, when the clock was nearing 12 and his time was almost over. “It’s almost as if you’re honoring your own Master.” He ignored the pain in his heart, it wasn’t fear of death, it wasn’t even fear for life he felt gripping it, it was just the unjustness of it all taking a toll on him. But he wasn’t allowed to complain, he had pledged his heart and life and heart to Athena. He knew that despite all his efforts to help, his sould was condenmed to hell since long ago.
Dohko let out a humorless laugh. “The cloth chose him, I had no say in it.” and it seemed like Dohko was ignoring it too. “You know, I had a dream the other day.”
“Yeah?” he felt dampness in his cheeks, and he could see his friend was also containing tears.
“Yeah, and in a dream, I saw you.”
We were both sitting like this, in a field of endless white.
And we had all the time in the world to catch up, to drink tea and eat dumplings.
“Then I hope it was at least a pleasant dream.” it wasn’t a good bye, it was a ‘see you soon’.
We have waited 283 years, a little longer won’t hurt.
*Due to the changes in the timeline in Next Dimension, putting the Holy War 240 years before the events of the Hades arc, instead of 243. Dohko should be 258 with this new change
**Dohko says that Shion should be 261 like him in the Hades arc, since they were the same age, but given the fact that Shion died 13 years before him, Shion actually died when he was 248. With the ND timeline change he would have been 245
